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Local resorts increasingly turning to summer activities to whet your appetite for travel.Blue Mountain&rsquo;s new diversions comprise the resort&rsquo;s biggest summer expansion in more than 20 years.

Since late June, a small fleet of Segways — fitted with knobby tires for off-road rides — has been whisking visitors along a network of gravel paths and forest trails atop the Niagara Escarpment. (Angela Bisby photo)

By Adam Bisby

Fri., Aug. 10, 2012

COLLINGWOOD—As I lunge into thin air on Blue Mountain’s new Timber Challenge high ropes course, I can’t help but wish I was back on my Segway.

A few hours earlier, I took a 90-minute Mountaintop Segway Tour, another of the Collingwood resort’s new summer diversions. Since late June, a small fleet of the two-wheeled, self-balancing oddities — fitted with knobby tires for off-road rides — has been whisking visitors along gravel paths and forest trails atop the Niagara Escarpment.

These quirky excursions, along with an 18-hole mini-putt course carved into Blue’s ski slopes and the child-friendly Woodlot low ropes course, represent the biggest expansion in summer activities at the resort since the Monterra golf course opened in 1989.

Apart from some good-natured ribbing by passing mountain bikers — “Dude, you lost your pedals!” stands out among the jibes — my Segway tour is a serene, near-effortless experience punctuated by the occasional need to steer around a tree root or wedding photo shoot.

“It’s something most people have never tried before, and just about anyone can do,” says Blake Beauchamp, my enthusiastic 20-year-old guide who, after just a few weeks on the job, has honed his Segway skills to the point where he can navigate the entire 7-kilometre route “with no hands.”

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The high ropes, however, require the full use of my extremities. After another twenty-something shows me how to buckle my safety harness and use a pair of carabiner-style clips to stay secured to safety cables, I set out on the confidence-boosting wooden catwalks of a beginner course, one of seven increasingly difficult routes, graded green, blue and black, that serve up more than 75 aerial obstacles.

To move up to the blue level, I must complete at least one green track, which, once I get into the Zen-like rhythm of clipping and unclipping, is a fun yet easily surmountable challenge. I consider trying another green course but, with my family freshly arrived to cheer me on, I whiz down the concluding zip line and head straight for Blue No. 1.

Swinging through the forest canopy, it’s easy to forget that this is Ontario’s largest ski and snowboard destination. The resort has just suffered one of the shortest winters in its 71-year history, so the multimillion-dollar summer expansion comes at a perfect time. “We just had our best June ever,” says Village Association marketing manager Patti Kendall. “We’re responding to the fact that summer is becoming just as important as winter, and that guests are drawn to a variety of seasonal experiences and attractions.”

This hedging of seasonal bets seems to be working, judging from the bustling village on a mid-July weekend fuelled by Blue Rodeo front man Jim Cuddy’s Saturday night concert, the culmination of the three-day Peak to Shore Music Festival.

Other summer draws include golf, downhill mountain biking, the Ridge Runner mountain roller-coaster and a private Georgian Bay beach; not to mention the resort’s boutiques, bars and restaurants, and a packed schedule of festivals and sporting events.

Kendall says Blue aims to boost not just the length of summer stays, but repeat visits as well. The resort also promotes regional attractions, such as the Apple Pie Trail, the Scandinave Spa and the Scenic Caves nature park, which will soon unveil Canada’s longest zip line.

Back at the high ropes, it’s starting to feel like I may need a few extra days to finish the initial blue course as I approach the pogo sticks, the aptly-named third obstacle.

As per the instructions hollered by staff 12 metres below, I’ve managed to curl my left foot around the far side of the first torture device. I’m then advised to grab the corresponding handhold and lunge into space, hoping to wrap my free limbs around the swinging stick. With a level of concentration usually reserved for changing diapers at wedding receptions, I grab, then push off, then cling — drawing cheers from my family far below — and repeat the process seven times to reach the next platform.

Ten minutes (and buckets of perspiration) later, I join the brood at the course’s base. They’re hungry, they say, and want to try the mini-putt. Turns out I’m starving, too — nothing fuels an appetite like pogo sticks — so I peel off my harness.

“I’ll be back,” I mutter, Schwarzenegger-style, as I crane my neck to watch a brave soul descend the 15-metre-high “auto-belay” drop that caps the trickiest black course.

“But first, I have a strange hankering for bananas.”

Just the facts

The rooms and suites at the Westin Trillium House are a cut above, with amenities such as gas fireplaces, plush sofas and granite countertops in kitchens. They start at about $250 per night. Book at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/starwoodhotels.comEND or 1-866-837-4192.

Look for summer packages and discounts on both websites.

The Westin houses an Oliver & Bonacini eatery. The eclectic lunch and dinner dishes are reliably tasty, but breakfasts continue to disappoint.

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